CincyBillsFan

Great point. I remember getting excited to be able to watch the Bills 3rd preseason game against the Cincinnati Bengals. You had Josh Allen starting and I'm thinking now is the time to see if he was worth that 7th pick. But what happened? Nothing less then the worst offensive line performance I've ever seen. They simply could not pass protect and Allen was either running for his life or having his center & guard pushed down his throat! It was a complete disaster and left the Bills brain trust wondering what the hell they were going to do for the opener. They ended up cobbling together an O-line and Peterman "won" the QB job. Or was it that the Bills coaches felt Peterman was expendable? Either way week one went down in the record books as the worst 1st half offensive performance in history. Flash forward to tonight. I trust we all see the difference and it's amazing.

Are you serious? Comparing the way the Bills managed the two half's is like comparing apples & oranges. In the first half it was about getting the run blocking and timing down. On the only possession the Bills ran their normal offense they went 95 yards for a TD. In the 2nd half it's about giving the receivers on the bubble a chance to shine. It's also about getting Barkley a lot of reps before he takes his place on the bench. There is NO QB controversy. Zero, Nada, nyet!

It seems like the Bills have a plan tonight: * Work on their run game with the starters in the 1st half. That two minute drill at the end was a bonus. * In the 2nd half you let Barkley work on the passing game. Hell, Barkley threw more then twice as many passes in the 3rd quarter as Allen threw in the entire first half. The reason you do this is that Barkley won't be seeing the field (hopefully) much after tonight and the Bills have some tough decisions to make at WR. And having a pro like Barkley throwing the ball means the WR's get a fair chance to show what they got and the Bills coaches get a true read of who they should keep. I like how McD and company are handling this preseason.

Exactly right Rhino. For all we know the Bills coaches are going to like what they see in film study when they examine the run blocking. Two red zone TD's is a nice thing to.

The conventional wisdom is that the 3rd preseason game is the dress rehearsal game and that it's the most important of the exhibition games. My sense is that this is changing. Sure it's a game where your starters see the most time BUT I have a feeling that teams have caught on that this is NOT the game to show your opponents what you're going to do. I bet that going into the 3rd game the idea is not to show anything about your opening game strategy. Tonight was about getting the run blocking assignments right for the O-line & TE's. It was about Allen getting his timing down on the hand offs and making run play audibles when necessary. The ONLY time you saw a semblance of the Bills real offense was when they were backed up against their end zone and had an opportunity to execute a two minute offense. You know what? if the injuries aren't serious tonight may actually have bee a decent outing for the team. Penalties on the O-line were probably the biggest concern.

I'm actually glad that he regressed for that one meaningless play in a meaningless game. First off Allen will be very hard on himself and in the film room Barkley, Dabold & the QB coach will have something to say to Allen. Talk about giving the guy a timely reminder of WHAT NOT TO DO under any circumstances.

Bingo! They don't want teams to see what routes all the receivers run when the Bills go downtown.

Come on man. The one drive they took the brakes off the offense and Allen takes them down the field for a TD. How can you judge Allen's performance when before that last drive he had only attempted FOUR passes and did not throw a single 1st down pass?

Apocalypse averted. The Bills are actually winning the game and end the half on a great 95 yard drive for a TD. It was clear they were working on the run game. Allen was rarely in the shotgun before that last drive. Even more critical was that before the last drive the Bills DID NOT attempt a 1st down pass. For Allen, tonight was about getting his timing down on his hand offs and making run audibles at the LOS. We should be encouraged that on the one series they took the handcuffs off and let Allen run a two minute offense they went right down the field for a score. On the other side it was clear Detroit was working on their passing game and Stafford had a nice half. This is what preseason games are for. I suspect that BOTH teams got some quality first team work on the things they wanted to tonight.

I think it's becasue the Bills ran more of their offense on that drive. They had two 1st down throws that went fro nice gains; Allen picked up a 1st on a nifty run and the bills had a couple of well blocked/schemed run plays. Dabol wanted to take advantage of a real 2 minute opportunity from deep in their territory.

Wow, 2 for 2 on 1st down passes.

It's about working on the QB/RB timing and it's about Allen calling run audibles. Has Allen even been in the shotgun yet?

As an aside, has Allen been in the shotgun yet?

So you know this after 5 passes? Get back to us after the home opener. Then we'll have 3 games that mean something in hand. We'll have a much better handle on whether Allen is better then last year.

Funny how over the last 2 games they haven't thrown ANYTHING downfield. And if you only allow your QB to throw on 3rd and long then you can't really expect much production can you? My concern isn't Allen it's that 2 great runs for first downs have been called back by a holding penalty.

As you note, Allen hasn't attempted enough passes to make any assessment of his performance. More importantly though is that through FOUR possessions the Bills have NOT thrown the ball on 1st down. Think about that. In the modern NFL you go 4 possessions without a 1st down pass. It's obvious what the Bills are working on. In contrast the Lions are working on their passing offense and thrown multiple 1st down passes. My concern so far has been the penalties and injuries. And the good news is that the injuries don't look to be serious.

Judas Priest folks get over the the bad throw. It happens. I'm just glad it's in the preseason as it becomes a teachable moment. That last drive showed some better run blocking which is clearly what the Bills were working on. Allen hasn't been sharp but the game plan doesn't involve working on the pass game. In contrast it's clear the Lions are working on their pass game. That's what preseason is for.

No, the Bills are working on the running game which leaves the passing game a bit off kilter. Sure that was a terrible throw by Allen. But better in the preseason so the coaches can drill it into his head that he needs to just throw the ball away.

For whatever reason the O is playing it very close to the vest. First two possessions and you had run/run/pass. Then on the 3rd you had run/run(hold)/pass. It was a nice throw and catch that ended in a fumble. People are freaking out about the passing game when the concern should be the running game, or lack so far of one. Two holds on runs doesn't help either.

You can argue that he just made the catch that Zay Jones didn't.

Are you kidding me! That was a perfect throw. Allen derangement syndrome is becoming a thing I guess.

Funny how first down passes tend to work.

As other have noted he absolutely must play. He's a young QB who needs the reps. This is particularity true with all the new relievers he's throwing to. Sure he could get hurt tonight but then again he could go down in the 1st quarter of the Jet's game. I would play Allen into the 2nd quarter which is probably three series then that would be it.

I think my head will explode if I hear this any more. FACTS don't seem to matter around this subject: * The Bills did not pick Allen over Mahomes unless you believe that in April of 2017 the Bills front office had already determined that Allen would be a better NFL QB then Mahomes AND that Allen would be available to them in the 2018 draft. BTW, had Allen even declared for the 2018 NFL draft in April 2017? * On this topic it helps to look at who else needing a QB passed on Mahomes: 1) The Chicago Bears took Trubisky with the #2 pick so they must have thought he was better then Mahomes. And for the record I think Allen will at least match Trubisky as an NFL QB. 2) The SF 49's passed on Mahomes with the 3rd pick. That season they started out 0 - 9 and were so desperate for a QB that they traded with NE to get Jimmy Garoppolo who they immediately inserted in as QB. Why did they pass on a generational talent especially one that was so obviously generational? 3) The NY Jets picked ahead of KC and they didn't take Mahomes. Yet the very next year they used a 3rd round pick to take Sam Darnold. Is he going to be a better QB then Mahomes? Kudos to Andy Reid and the KC Chiefs for seeing how good Mahomes was going to be. Hopefully, folks will be saying that about the Bills & Allen.

Why even compare Allen to Murray? One is a rookie and the other is a 2nd year guy. Wouldn't it be more appropriate to compare Murray to a fellow 2019 draftee like the Giant's David Jones? I mean Jones has had two solid exhibition games and Murray has had a good & bad game. I've never seen anything like the hatred spewed at Allen. I get that the analytics guys don't like his "accuracy" numbers but why do so many of these writers seem to make it personal? This is more then writers thinking Allen will be a bust. This comes across as sports writers taking personal offense at the idea that Allen might actually be good. It's just plain weird. It seems like there's an agenda here and I don't get it. Someone needs to tell these guys that it's possible a bunch of these young QB's are going to shine in the NFL over the next decade. This is NOT a zero sum game. Anyone who has watched football knows this.